Addressing machine



Oct. 18, 1927.

I A. L- SCHULTZ ADDRESSING MACHINE Filed June 14, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 1ll lllllllllll lllll 1,646,220 1927' A. L. SCHULTZ ADDRESSING MACHINEFiled June 14, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fla-6 affoz new I 8 I Oct 1 1927 A.L. SCHULTZ ADDRESSING MACHINE Filed June 14, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 3FIGr'S 3mm W C. X97? I attozmqq Oct. 18, 1927. A. L. SCHULTZ ADDRESSINGMACHINE Filed June 14, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 7% $4M if:

Patented Oct. 18, 1927.

UNITED STATES v 1,646,220 PATENT OFFICE.-

AUGUST L. SCHULTZ, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNORTO THE AMERICAN MULTI-GRAIH COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

ADDRESSING MACHINE.

Application filed June 14, 1926. Serial No. 115,819.

This invention relates to a rotary machine for printing addresses, asfor instance addressing envelopes. The object of the invention is toprovide a very simple mechanism for causing revolution at proper timeand speed of a platen adapted to coact with an address plate held on asuitable drum.

My mechanism is designed to cause a platen, much smaller than the drum,to coact with the drum once only on each rotation of the drum and whenin coaction to have the same peripheral speed as the drum, and toaccomplish this by avery simple arrangement of mechanism. Such mechanismis hereinafter more fully described in connection with the drawingswhich illustrates. preferred embodiment of my invention.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a plan; Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section onthe line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3- is a vertical cross-section on the line3-3 of Fig. 1, looking in the opposite direction from Fig. 2; Fig. is afragmentary elevation of the platen controlling mechanism, showing theplaten gear one revolution different from the showing in Fig.

3; Fig. 5 is a longitudinal vertical section through the machine; Fig. 6is a section through the platen shaft in an approximately verticalplane, as indicated by the line 66 in Fig. 3.

As shown in the drawings, the machine is adapted to carry not only achangeable address plate, but a body form to print addressed circularletters, there being one platen coacting with both the body form andaddress to print the letter and another platen coacting with the addressonly to address the envelope. This invention is concerned with thislatter platen. v

The printing machine proper is of the general type of the Multigraph andcomprises a rotary drum 10 mounted on a shaft 11, journalled in endframe plates 12 and 13 above a roller platen 14 mounted on a shaft 15.Gearing 16 and 17 and an Oldham coupling 18 connect the drum and thisplaten. Any suitable means, as for example a crank 19, is provided forrotating the drum and platen.

The sheets to be printed may be fed to such machine automaticallyormanually as desired. I have indicated in Fig. 3 at 20 a pair ofcoacta-ble rolls to control the paper fed, the roll 21 being connectedby a gearing 22 with the platen gear 16. I have also inthe printingform, such IlbbOIl being mountdicated at 25, a paper ejecting rollconnected by gearing 26 with the platen gear 16.

have shown mounted on the drum a means for printing the body of a lettercom prising a blanket 30 stretched about a segmental portion of the drumand having raised overhanging projections 32 carrying embossed printingstri s '33, Fig. 1.-: An ink,- mg ribbon 35 is provi ed, adapted tooverlie ed at its ends onspools 37 and 38 which are mounted in the drum.It will be seen that in the construction described, when the drum isrotated, as by means of the crank or otherwise, paper fed between thedrum and platen 14 is printed by the type characters through the ribbon.

The body of the drum adjacent one edge of the segment is shown in Fig. 2as pro vided with a pair of longitudinal channels 40, 41 for thereception 0 the address plate 42. This plate may be of the form shown,having an arcuate intermediate region and depressed edge portionsunder-curled on themselves for strength, and adapted to occupy thechannels 40 and 41 when it is shoved endwise into place. Between thesechannels is a portion of the drum providing a support for theintermediate portion of the plate. The plate, which is shown'conventionally may if desired have raised projections like the'blanket andcarry similar embossed printing strips. The address plates may beinserted manually or in other manner as desired during a temporarycessation of the rotation of the drum thus giving a difi'erent plate foreach rotation.

The mechanism described enables the simultaneous printing of the bodyand address of an addressed letter through an inking ribinn withcomparative rapidity. Mechanism which I will now describe is provided toenable the envelope to be printed from the same address plate while inits position on the drum.

The envelope platen has a segmental portion, the arcuate extent of whichcorresponds with that of the address plate, and the mech anism sets suchplaten into' motion at the proper time and at the proper speed 'so thatit will coact with the address plate on the drum.

The segmental portion 50 of the envelope platen is rigidly mounted on aroller 51, being shown as secured thereto as by screws 110 52. Thisroller is rotatable on a shaft 53 .which is eccentrically mounted so asto be The shaft is shown as having.

adjustable. an eccentric extension 54 at one end which is mounted in astationary tubular bearing 55 carried by the frame plate 12. At theother end the shaft is mounted in a suitable hearing in the frame plate13. A small lever 57 on thisend of the shaft enables its partialrotation to adjust the laten, and the locking of this lever to the rameplate holds the platen in adjusted position.

Mounted on the exterior of the bearmg 55 is a driven drumgear 17.djacent this driven gear 18 a disk 61 adapted under certain conditlonsto be driven by this gear. This disk is connected by an Oldham couplingwith the platen roller 51. As shown the disk is connected by pins fil-to a coupling member which has diametric notches embracing projectionson a floating member 66; pro]ect1on set 90 ahead on the other side ofthis member engage notches in the platen roller. I

The gear 60 has a pitch diameter WhlCh 1s an aliquot part of the pitchdiameter of the drum gear 17 As shown the dlameter gear 60 is one-halfthat of the drum gear, so that the gear 60 makes two rotations for everyrotation of the drum.

Pivoted on the side of the gear 60 is a pawl 62, the tail of which ispressed outwardly by a spring 63 carried by the gear so that the hookednose 65 of the paw} is pressed inwardly to bear against the edge of thedisk 61. This disk is provided with a shoulder 67'which the nose of thepawl may engage. When in such engagement, the disk 61 revolves with thegear 60 and in that case the platen roller and the segmental platenrevolve simultaneously with the drum and at the same peripheral speed.To cause the platen 50 to coact with the printing drum for only onerotation of the latter, though the platen gear 60 makes two rotations Iprovide a throwout for the pawl 62, which, in the embodiment shown, actson every alternate rotation of the platen gear and is effective for onerotation.

The mechanism just referred to comprises a cam on a inion 81 whichmeshes with the gear 60. I his cam and pinion structure is journalled ona pin 82 carried by the frame plate 12. The pitch circle of the pinion81 bears a non-aliquot relation to that of the gear 60, so that on onerotation of the gear 60 the cam 80 may come into position to ooact witha shoulder 69 on the tail of the pawl 62, while on the next rotationthis cam is extended away from the pawl and hence idle. In theparticular embodiment shown, this is effected by making the pinion ofsuch diameter that the diameter of the pitch circle of the gear 60 isfour and one-half times that of the pinion.

ear 60,'meshing with the' It results from the construction describedthat if the parts are in the position shown in Fi 3, the gear 60 will beconnected with the disk 61 and thus the envelope laten is given onerevolution during a onealf revolution of the printing drum. At the endof such revolution of the platen, the cam 80 reaches the lower, regionof its course, as indicated in Fig. 4, and there engages the shoulder 69on the tail of the pawl and withdraws the nose of the pawl from thenotch 67. This frees the gear from the platen, and hencethe nextrotation of the gear is idle, and theplaten remains stationa ry, thepawl nose tracking over the periphery of tie disk 61. At the completionof that rotation the pawl nose will a ain swing into engagement with thenotch 6 the cam 80 being at that time distant from the tail of the awl.

It Will accordingly be seen that by the very simple arrangement of thegearing the cam and the pawl I am able to cause the platen on acomparatively small roller to rotate at the same number of rotationswith the comparatively large drum and at the same time at the sameperipheral speed.

I have spoken of the gear ratio of the pinion 81 and the gear 60 asbeing one to four and one-half. However, this ratio may be made of anwhole number plus a fraction which is ependant on the ratio of theplaten gear and the drum gear. words, the number of rotations of the camfor each rotation of the platen gear is any number, plus a fraction, thenumerator of which is unity and the denominator of which is the quotientobtained by dividing the pitch diameter of the gear-on the Multigraphdrum by the pitch diameter of the gear onthe platen. Thus, if theMultigraph gear is twice the diameter of the platen gear, the fractionof a rotation of the cam for each rotation of the platen gear isone-half. If the Multigraph gear were three times the diameter of theplaten gear, such fraction of a rotation of the cam would be onethirdthat of the platen gear, in which case, the cam would extend fortwo-thirds of a circle and the pawl would be released on only everythird rotation of the platen gear. In any case the number of rotationsof the cam may be expressed as an improper fractional multiple of thoseof the platen gear.

In order to stop the revolution of the envelope platen immediately, whenthe pawl is disconnected from the disk 61, I provide a constantly actingfriction brake. The drag thus caused is immaterial when the platen isbeing driven, but when the platen is released is suificient to stop itat once. I have shown this brake consists of a leather disk mounted on aplate 91 and pressed by springs 92 into contact with the end of theplaten roller 51.

' simplicity I lprefer to the drum or each rotation, it will be seen Asheretofore stated the address plate may be installed on the drum andremoved therefrom manually or otherwise as desired. For

pgrform this operation manua there ing a temporary pause betweenrotations suflicient to accomplish it. As indicated in Figs. 1 and 5,there 1s an abutment 100 pressed outwardly by a 8 ring 101 and tendingto discharge the p ate 42, a latch 103 is adapted to hold 1t in placeagainst the spring action. The plate may be simply shoved manuallylengthwise of the drum toward the crank, beneath a bridge 105 supportingthe edge of the r 1bbon, until the plate passes the latch, WlllCl'l willthen spring out to hold it. 'At the end driver, means for coupling saiddriver to said member including a movable periodically actin cam and amember which it en,- gages lessre uently than every rotation of thedriver, an mechanism for changing the relation of said cam to therinting member ber, a revoluble platen, a member-adapted to travelconcurrently with the printing member, means for locking said member tothe platen when the platen is in a definite locaof the rotation, adepression of this latch tion with reference to the printing member willallow the spring 101 to act to eject the plate to a. point where it maybe gras ed by the operator. Reference may be ma e to a pendingapplication of John A. Hult, No.

100,224 for a fuller description of the installation and removal of theplate.

Assumin that a fresh plate is installed on that paper fed between thecontrolling feed rollers may be printed between the drum and platen 14to produce addressed circular letters, and while the body of the letter1s being rinted, the address plate WhlCl'l has coacted with the platen14 may coact w1th the segmental platen 50 to print the address on anenvelo e. Such envelope will be carried upWardi y by the coaction of thesegmental platen andv the address plate and be suitably discharged.

I have shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a suitable pocket for receiving a blankenvelope and holding it in position for printing. This pocket comprisesa pair of separated shield plates 110 and 111 depending between the drumand the roller 51 and connected at the bottom by a cross bar 113 whichis adapted to support the envelope in proper position. The two plateshave openlngs 115, 116' through them, through which the segmental platenacts. The plate 110 is shown as havmg'a rearward projection 11 near 1tsupper end to direct the envelope being discharged rearwardly, While theplate 111 curves over the platen roller 51 and forms a discharge shield.With such embodiment the envelopes may be readily inserted manually 1nthe pocket one at a time and at the proper time each envelope is printedand discharged at the rear of the machine and may fall on the printedaddressed letter bearing the corresponding address, unless it is deslredto provide separate receptacles for the letters and envelopes.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. In a machine of thecharacter described, the combination of a rotary printing member, arevoluble platen member, a rotary and a periodically acting devicemovable with reference to the printlng member to release said lock onone rotation of the other member and not on another rotation.

3. The combination of a rotary printing member, another member adaptedto travel concurrently therewith, a platen adapted to coact with theprinting member, means for locking said platen to said other member whenthe platen is .in a definite location with reference to the printingmember, a rotary cam and means whereby it may release said lock, saidcam being-active on one rotation of said othermember and inactive onanother rotation.

4. The combination of a rotary printing member, another member gearedtherewith, a platen adapted to coact with the printing member, means forlockin said platen to said other member when tide platen is in adefinite location with reference to-the printing member, a rotary camand means whereby it may release said lock, said cam being so gearedwith said other member as to be active on one rotation thereof andinactive on another rotation.

5. The combination of a rotary printing member, a se mental platen, arotary cam geared with the printing member, the rotations of said 'cambeing an improper fractional multiple of those of said member wherebythe cam is adapted to release the lick on certain rotations only of themem- 6. The combination of a rotary printin member, a segmental platen,a gear geare with the printing member, a lock for locking said gear tothe platen, and a cam adapted to control said lock and geared with saidgear, the rotations of said cam being an improper fractional multiple ofthose of the gear.

7. The combination of a rotary printing member having a gear, a secondgear meshing therewith and having a pitch diameter which is an aliquotpart of the pitch diameter of the printing member gear, a platen, a lockfor connecting it to said gear, a pinion connected with said gear andadapted to control the lock and having rotations which are a fractionalmultiple of that of the gear, said pinion carryin a cam adapted toperiodically release said lock.

8. The combination of a rotary printing drum. having a gear, a secondear connecte with the gear on the drum and aving a pitch diameter whichis an aliquot part of the pitch diameter of the drum, a pinion gearedwith the drum, the pitch diameter of the second gear comprising amultiple of that of the pinion plus a fraction the numerator of which isunity and the denominator of which is the quotient obtained by dividingthe diameterof the drum by the diameter of said second gear.

9. In a machine of the character described, the combination of aprinting drum having a gear, a second gear meshing therewith, a piniongeared with the second gear, a cam on the pinion, a pawl on the secondgear operated by the cam, a platen, and means whereby'the pawl mayconnect the platen to the second gear, the ratio of the gear on thedrum, the second gear and the pinion being such that the number ofrotations of the cam for each rotation of the second gear is a numberplus a fraction, the numerator of which is unity and the denominator ofwhich is the quotient obtained by dividing the pitch diameter of thegear on the drum by the pitch diameter of the second gear.

10. The combination of a rotary drum,

' means for carrying thereon a removable address plate, a segmentalplaten adapted to revolve in coaction with said address plate, gearingconnecting said segmental platen with the drum and comprising a memberadapted to make a plurality of rotations for each rotation of the drum,a lock for connecting said member to the platen, and means for releasingsaid lock on certain rotations of said member and coupling it on otherrotations, comprising a rotary cam movable with reference to the drumand so geared that its rotations are a fractional multiple of those ofsaid member, whereb the platen may make one rotation for eac rotation ofthe printing member and at the same peripheral speed.

11. The combination of a rotary drum, means whereby a removable addressplate may be mounted thereon, said address plate being changeable forsuccessive rotations, a platen adapted to coact with said address plate,a gear for rotating said platen, meshing with a gear on the drum, a lockfor connecting said gear with the platen, a movable cam for controllingsaid lock, and a third gear connecting said cam with the platen gear.

12. The combination of a rotary drum, longitudinal channels therein inwhich an address plate may be mounted, said drum while in position onthe drum,

being provided with a gear, a second gear meshing with the gear on thedrum, a segmental platen adapted to coact with the address plate. saidsegmental laten being substantially coaxial with sai second gear, a pawladapted to connect the second gear with the platen, a rota cam adaptedto make a plurality of rotations for each rotation of t disconnect itand means whereby said cam acts on the pawl on one rotation of thesecond gear and misses such action on another rotation of the secondgear.

13. The combination of a rotary printing member, a gear gearedtherewith, a platen coaxial with said gear, a notcheddisk rotatable wlththe platen, a pawl pivoted on the gear and having a nose adapted toengage the notch of the disk, a spring for retaining such engagement, acam adapted to act on the pawl to withdraw the nose from the awl on thedisk. said cam being rotatabib, a plurality of times for each rotationof the printing member and having a non-aliquot gear ratio to the platengear.

14:. The combination of a rotary printing drum, means thereon forcarrying a bodyform to be printed, means for carrying a changeableaddress form, a platen adapted to coact with both forms, a second platenadapted to coact with the address form only while 1n position on thedrum. said second platen being segmental, a member mounted substantlallycoaxially with the second platen and geared with the drum. a pawladapted to connect said member with the platen, a rotary cam adapted tomake a plurality of rotations for each rotation of the drum and to swingsaid pawl out of such engagement to enable the member to rotateindependently of the platen, and means whereby the rotations of the camand member have a non-aliquot ratio.

15. The combination of a rotary printing drum, means thereon forcarrying a bodyform to be printed, means for carryin a changeableaddress form, a platen adapted to coact with both forms, a second platenadapted to coact with the address form only said second platen belngsegmental, a gear mounted substantlally coaxially with the second platenand meshing with a gear on the drum, a pawl carried by said platen gearand adapted to coact with a notched disk on the platen, acam adapted toswing said pawl out of such engagement to enable the second gear torotate independently of the platen, anda pinion carrying the pawl andmeshing with said second gear, said second gear and pinion having anon-aliquot gear ratio.

16. The combination of a pair of coactable rotary members of differentdiameters, a rotary driver for the smaller member geared with the largermember to make a plurality e drum and to act on the pawl to of rotationsfor each rotation of the larger member, and mechanism for locking thesmaller member to its driver once for each rotation of the largermember, said mechanism including means which makes a'plurality ofrotations for eachrotation of the larger member, but acts on the driveronly once for each rotation of the larger member.

17. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a rotaryprinting member, a revoluble platen member and rotary driver therefor,said driver being geared with the printing member to make a plurality ofrotations for each rotation of the printin member, said mechanismincluding a c utching member driven by the driver and a rotarycontrolling device which makes a plurality of rotations for eachrotation of the printing member, but acts on said clutching member onlyonce for each rotation of the printing member and while the printingmember is in the same position for each rotation.

In testimony signature.

. i AUGUST L. SCHULTZ.

whereof, I hereunto afiix my

